Sunday, December 02, 2007

Move over heartache, here comes the sun

Initially I was going to sit down and talk about how France was on fire again, because the blow-back from their Algerian adventure was only superficially put out last time, and maybe also because they zigged right when maybe they should've zagged left during there last election.

Then I read a huge depressing piece on the rape epidemic in Haiti and how it has gotten way out of control since the US, France, and good old Canada came in and saved the Haitian people from their democratically elected leader. It was one of the most horrible things I have ever read, and I've never been less proud of being Canadian. We've managed to help make it slightly less evil than the Belgian Congo. The Americans and the French are probably more used to these feelings after hundreds of years of genocidal colonial endeavors but as a Canadian these feelings are new to me and I feel dirty inside; I frankly don't know how those people have dealt with these sorts of feelings throughout the horror they have inflicted.

So anyways, I am in no mood to go into politics or bad news right now. Here is a great piece about Desertec . Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan has helped come up with a plan to get solar power out of the deserts of North Africa, solving a huge chunk of Europe's energy problems, while supplying those developing regions with clean power and clean water. These are the kind of schemes that can really bring peace to the Middle East.

The peace that is brought from the barrel of a gun is illusory at best. Just ask the Haitians.